I'm Needed: Redux
by BrokenChosenofEva
Summary: Asuka is the first Pilot, teens who can control giant cyborgs called Evangelions. Identified by the order in which they are found and called Children, they fight against alien entities named Angels which seek to rewrite all sentient life in their image. AxT, HxK


**Neon Genesis Evangelion  
I'm Needed: Redux  
By B.C.E.**

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Title: I Dreamt Of Another Place  
Word Count: 4k+  
Rating: T  
Summary: Asuka arrives in Tokyo-3 before Sachiel appears. Learning she will also be caring for a pair of kids eight years younger than her, she resolves to prove she is the Great Asuka Langley Sohryu.  
Disclaimer: I do not own Neon Genesis Evangelion

Notes: This is the new first chapter for I'm Needed, and as I like to post more like a drabble series than actual chapter-by-chapter stories:  
Part 1 of the "I'm Needed Redux" arc of Pilot's Table.

No Prompts are planned to be used for this particular story arc, but that may change.

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"Did you ever imagine us doing this?" Asuka asked over her shoulder from a kitchen, "back when we were Pilots."

Looking up from a motorbike a friend had asked him to fix up during his free-time, a young Japanese man leaned to the side so he coud see through the door separating the garage from the kitchen.

"Why do you ask?" was his curious response.

"Just," Asuka paused, contemplative, "I can remember thinking I'd always be a Pilot, or become a legendary scientist. I even remember thinking I'd die too young."

"And now?" the man encouraged.

"Lunch is ready!" she called into the house proper, before turning to face him as he stepped into the house, "Now I can't think of any other way to be. Being so much more free than those old plans would have let me be."

A light stampede of feet from further in the house, gradually getting louder and louder before Asuka felt like something had slammed her into a chair-

-and blinking her eyes open, squinting against the bright light coming from the small window on the opposite side of the plane from her seat, she shook the strange and melancholic dream from her mind as she turned to open the cover of her own window and watch as the jet taxied to the terminal.

Tokyo-3, home of NERV-HQ and the fortress the Angels would be crushed against, was a place she had not been in her entire life despite being the only current Pilot. _One would suppose_, she thought in annoyance, _that you would want your only combat Pilot in the same base as your only fully functioning Evas..._ Instead, she had spent her life training in simulators or the under-construction Unit-02 since she was ten, and then adding college in Berlin starting at fourteen. At eighteen years of age Asuka possessed the normal teenage confidence, but also the intelligence and training to back it up.

Getting up and retrieving her messenger bag that was both purse and carry-on, the german redhead followed the few other passengers off the plane and out into Tokyo-3, mentally brushing the last of the dream from her mind.

0o0o0o0-:Opening Theme "Kiss & Cry" by Utada Hikaru:-0o0o0o0

"I bet she's always like this..." Asuka grumbled, standing just inside the airport exit in jeans and solid red blouse with her bag and two duffels. The rest of her things were being shipped and should arrive in less than a week, "Kaji was always 'fashionably late', I don't see why she wouldn't be too."

No sooner did she finish speaking than a blue Renault sports car slid into a vacant space near the door, and the dark-haired Major that Kaji always spoke of stepped out and made her way to where Asuka stood.

"Asuka Sohryu, right?" the slightly older woman asked, smiling, "Major Misato Katsuragi, sorry I'm a bit late, I was finishing some paperwork and lost track of time."

"That's me." the redhead teen confirmed, smirking, "You aren't that late, so I can forgive you."

"Thank heavens for small favors," she dead-panned, grabbing a duffel and turning to lead the way back to her car, "Commander Fuyutsuki has assigned an apartment to you in the complex I stay in, so we can drop this off there before checking in at Headquarters."

"Fine." Asuka agreed, taking her other duffel and putting it in the backseat beside the first, "So which Eva will I be using until my Unit-02 gets here next month?"

"Unit-01" Misato answered as the two of them climbed into the car and she set off, "It's equiped with slightly better armor and internal Prog-Knife storage, but not the spike launchers your unit has."

"Do you have the Lance and Ax here at least?" she sniffed, "I'm a decent aim but those rifles are pieces of crap. Much better to get into melee and finish your opponent cleanly and quickly."

"We do." the major changed lanes and pulled off the freeway onto a residential road, "We still want you trying to use the ranged weapons anyways. We don't know for certain if that 'piece of crap', as you put it, will be a flop or not against an actual Angel."

"Whatever," Asuka dismissed the topic, and they travelled in silence for several minutes before she spoke again, "At least I have my own apartment. Back in Berlin I was stuck in billeting with Kaji because I was still a minor. Damn I'm glad I'm eighteen now."

"How is the lady-killer anyways?" changing lanes again she made a right turn and continued on, "It couldn't be that bad staying with him."

"He never shuts up about you, even if I wanted to try and get him to date me it wouldn't work. Beside, he comes across too carefree, even if he isn't." a snort of laughter, "I out grew my crush on him when I started going to college and saw all those peons partying and humping each other. Disgusting."

Chuckling, Misato decided to let the rest of the drive go by in silence and let Asuka decide if she wanted to talk more. Half an hour later, with Asuka dozing beside her, Misato pulled into a familiar parking lot and gently shook the younger girl's shoulder. In short order they had her things up in the apartment, given Asuka her keys, and made it back to the car for the trip to NERV.

0o0o0o0

The drive was filled with idle chatter, things like the local mall and good eateries, and they reached the vehicle elevator where Misato asked if Asuka had seen any images of the Geofront before.

"No, never had time or motivation." she admitted, and Misato chuckled and told her she was in for a surprise. When the lift slid through out into the open air, Misato felt rather smug to hear the girl gasp in awe. The Geofront was washed in gold, the afternoon sun hitting the mirror-lenses on the surface, and the pyramid in the center looked like a diamond set in a medallion of beaten gold.

"I'm impressed," Asuka muttered, continuing to take in the sight, "I think I might enjoy staying here after all."

"We'll see what you say in a week," Misato chuckled evilly, grinning at the girl when she turned to look, "You have a week of synch-tests and simulator familiarization-"

"Nothing I haven't been doing back home." she interrupted, receiving a snort from the major.

"Maybe, but let me finish," the elevator stopped and Misato drove down a short tunnel and into a parking garage, "After that, you'll be attending the local highschool for final year-"

"I am a college grad!"

"Asuka!" Misato snapped, parking the car and getting out, "It's for two reasons: One, to get you familiar with people your own age who are Pilot candidates. Two, to ensure you are up to our standards on your Kanji. The rest of the classes are mainly for the first reason."

"I can read." the readhead said scathingly, following the purple haired woman to a bank of elevators.

"Kaji sends copies of your report cards, the Commander and I know you have issues with Kanji." Misato held up a hand to forestall any comment, "And that you're passable with Hiragana and perfect with Katakana and Romaji."

"Fine." she huffed, the elevator ticking through floors as they travelled down, "What's this about Pilot Candidates? I thought you'd only found one other..."

"If you mean Nagisa-san, then you're right." Misato nodded, stepping out of the elevator and starting down the hall eyeing every sign they passed, "But the class you'll be in are all potentials we've been giving basic testing to."

"What kinds of tests?"

"The kind we can trick the Eva into accepting."

Both women stopped and turned to find a bottle-blond in a lab coat and conservative skirt behind them, a door silently sliding closed beside her.

"Heya Rits!" Misato grinned, blushing, "I was-"

"Just about to get losted again." Rits grinned back, then turned to Asuka while Misato huffed, "Doctor Ritsuko Akagi, head of Tech Division 1. Glad they finally let you over here Ms. Sohryu."

"Asuka is fine," she flashed a smile, brushing some of her hair behind her ear, "Pleasure to meet you. So, you run all the checks on the Evas here?"

"Yes I do." Ritsuko smiled, "Your first synch test is supposed to be tomorrow at nine, but I'll need you here at eight to go over everything in regards to Unit-01 and your new plugsuit."

"Another one? What's wrong with my old ones?" Asuka groaned, "I even brought a few in case you didn't have any for me yet."

"Those should be fine in a pinch, but Unit-01 doesn't have the same built-in limiters Unit-02 has, so the suit needs to compensate." Ritsuko told her.

"Fine, fine." Asuka wavered her hand airily, "The best must always suffer for their art."

"Full of yourself?" Misato quipped, grinning when Asuka glared.

"Let's just get this over with," Asuka grumbled, "so I can go to my apartment and go to sleep."

"You've got a meeting the Commander after we finish registering you in the Magi." stepping back into her office, Ritsuko sat at her desk and began pulling up several windows on her computer displaying forms, "It shouldn't take long."

0o0o0o0

Half an hour later found Asuka a few levels down and several corridors over as she walked to the Commander's office. Her mood was considerably more sour than it had been upon first meeting Misato, and the reasons where several. She was tired and hungry after the flight, inspite of the naps she took on the plane. She had also decided Misato was just as bad as Kaji in regards to acting carefree, which wouldn't have been so bad if the woman hadn't taken any opportunity to tease. Add on that she would be fitted for a new plugsuit tomorrow and in a week would be going back to _high school_! Well, the sight of the Geofront and having her own apartment barely made up for it.

Though it was nice to have such a large apartment, three bedrooms was more than enough space for all her things. Billeting back in Germany had been about the same size, but splitting a two bedroom with your guardian made it smaller.

Knocking at the Commander's door, she waited only a moment before pushing it open and walking into the largest and weirdest office she'd seen. The far wall was nothing but a single long window, stretching the eight feet from floor to ceiling and the twenty feet from one wall to the other. The ceiling had some massive chart or tree design, and the floor mirrored it, both covered or made of some black stone or tile. The Commander's desk, the only furniture aside from several chairs, waited at the far end of the room next to the windows.

"Ah, Pilot Sohryu," the Commander's old, gentlemanly voice carried across the room, "Please, have a seat, there is an additional arrangement we must discuss."

"Yes, Commander." foregoing a salute, she wasn't really military after all, Asuka sat in the chair directly across from Fuyutsuki, "I'm glad you finally decided to bring me here where the Evas are."

"Yes, I'm well aware of your opinion on the subject." he chuckled good naturedly, "Do you know who the previous Commander was?"

"Some Gendo guy, right?" she glanced around the room, already bored and noticed a door in the wall to her right that was cracked slightly, "he's one of the people who tried to activate the Evas before we installed filter systems, and found out it had to be post-Impact born children."

"Yes, he and his wife were both lost to the Evas, along with your own-"

"What's this other arrangement?" Asuka cut in, "I want to leave so I can get some sleep before the fitting and test tomorrow."

"You can thank both Misato and their parents' wills for this." Fuyutsuki calmly addressed her, waving her next comment off as he turned to the cracked open door, "Shinji, Rei. You can stop spying now and come meet your guardian."

Asuka spun to face the door, angry words on her lips, just as two children roughly ten or so years old stepped out and moved over to stand beside Fuyutsuki. Seeing the two instantly killed her voice, and she couldn't say why. It wasn't that she recognized them, and she'd never met an albino before, but they seemed somehow familiar. _Rei's dress,_ she thought, dismissing the odd feeling, _that's what it is. She's wearing the same dress I did when-_

"What do you mean, _guardian_?" she spoke slow and clear, cutting off the thought, and both children hid slightly farther behind the older man as they sensed the tightly bound anger. "I'm a Pilot, and now expected to go to school on top of all the tests and training I have to do. And you want me to babysit?"

"You won't be kept nearly as busy here as you were in Germany." his voice said he would brook no argument on the matter, "They will be driven by Section 2 both to and from their school, and will come with you here when you do have tests."

"I'm a Pilot!-"

"And an adult, or so you've insisted repeatedly since you graduated early from college with you bachelors in advanced robotics." Fuyutsuki interrupted, nonplussed, "And you will accept what your mother and their mother arranged shortly before Yui and then Gendo died in their Evas."

"That's-" Asuka cut herself off and took several deep, calming breaths, before she continued in a calm and polite tone, "Fine, fine. Rei, Shinji? I apologize, I'm just tired."

"That is fine," Rei said, peeking out from behind Shinji and the Commander, "Shinji gets cranky when he is tired too."

"Do not!" Shinji half-heartedly glared back at his albino sister, who replied by sticking her tongue out at him for a split second.

"Quiet." Fuyutsuki chuckled, "Follow Asuka home, Section 2 should have finished moving your things in. Yours should also be there, the freight arrived a week ahead of schedule."

"Thank heaven for that." Asuka grumbled, then smiled at the two children, "Well, let's go figure this out. Later Commander."

0o0o0o0

Asuka and the two children found Misato outside the office waiting. Saying she'd just been given permission to leave early, she had decided to wait for Asuka and take them all home.

"So I hear this was your idea?" Asuka asked, tone nonchalant, "what inspired you to put me in charge of a couple ten year olds?"

"Kaji, actually," she winced, _sorry for the earful you're gonna get_, she thought, "He said you had been a model adult, and that he'd caught wind of Yui Ikari's will regarding our resident kids."

"Da-ang it Kaji," the german caught herself before she cursed, flicking a glance at the rear-view mirror to spot Shinji focused out the window, "Of course declaring I'm an adult would come back and bite me on the- come back and bite me..."

"You've been to college, you should know arrogance has a price."

"It's not arrogant if you're right." she snorted, "I may have been a bit too enthusiastic about turning eighteen and graduating though..."

"Whatever lets ya sleep Asuka." Misato chuckled, "I'm only two apartments down, if you need help just come over. I've done my share of Ikari-babysitting-duty."

0o0o0o0

They reached the apartments in short order, and upon discovering Asuka lacked any food in her kitchen Misato invited the trio to her place for dinner. Much to Asuka's surprise, the Major's cooking wasn't nearly as bad as Kaji had once jokingly hinted at. Considering his cooking was average at best, Asuka had assumed Misato's would be horrid.

Now fed, the trio made their way back to their new home to settle in for bed and a long day tomorrow. With Rei and Shinji in separate rooms down a short hall, Asuka went to her room to change and get some sleep.

0o0o0o0

Awareness flowing back into her slightly faster than she was running out of air, Asuka focused on Shinji's face. Such hate, focused solely on her. His fingers, which she once thought looked so soft and deft when she watched him play his cello, where now closed around her throat, crushing the life from her much more easily than she thought possible.

_Why... Why does he want me dead?_

Images flash through her mind, glimpses of life and something called Instrumentality. Mocking him, jabbing at him...

_I couldn't be why! HE left ME! He did THAT near me! He's disgusting- _

More images flash by, showing her again how she antagonized him and ran from him before, and how she turned her back on him after. Showing Asuka her part in Gendo's plans, in the fall of humanity, and in Shinji's fall.

Realization slowly dawned on her. She had been a puppet, a doll, just like Rei. She had been manipulative of Shinji, just like Gendo. She had helped to break Shinji as surely as Kaworu.

_But... I..._her air running out, she reached a hand up, slowly brushing Shinji's cheek, _I'm sorry... I..._

Shinji released his grip on her neck, allowing her to breath. Several tears fell onto her face, before he collapsed on top of her starting to sob. For her part, she felt disgusted with herself. She couldn't believe how easily she had been maneuvered.

_Though... _she mused, disgustedly, _even if I had seen the signs, I'd have refused to acknowledge them. My pride..._

"Kimochi wari..." she muttered to herself...

Then blinked, confused, as she suddenly found herself looking up at a ceiling that wasn't there a moment before with both eyes, and feeling Shinji's weight vanish from her stomach and chest. She bolted upright, feeling no pain from her arm or stomach, her red hair falling behind her and her vision clear. Looking around hurriedly, she notes her closet and desk, as well as her empty duffel bags next to the closet. A glance at the clock tells her that it is barely three in the morning.

_What... what was that?_ She thinks, her mind hazy and fighting for clarity, _A nightmare...? No... it... it was so real... but this is real..._

She got out of bed wearing her normal sleep attire of shorts and an over-sized t-shirt. As she hurried to the door she noted the room seemed larger than it should. Stepping out of the bedroom she finds herself immediately in the living room, not the hallway between her and Shinji's rooms.

_What-_ _what am I doing staying in Misato's room?_

Asuka looks over the living room and spots a sofa next to her door, then walks to the kitchen and looks in it as well, noting the lack of a second icebox. A quick search of the apartment, minus the other two bedrooms, reveals no trace of the Major having been in the apartment. A quick glance in the bathroom mirror shows she is still herself, though her A10-clips are missing from her hair.

She walks down the short hall and stands in front of the smaller of the two rooms. On the door is a small craft-paper sign which reads: Shinji's Lovely Suite, written in very precise kanji.

_I should... probably check..._ she reasoned.

Taking a deep breath in an attempt to clear her mind, she opens the door and peeks in. She finds the same small space she remembers yet doesn't. A window in the wall to the left showing a nearby park that she had never bothered to visit, yet not known was there til now.

Lying on the bed, sleeping peacefully with his head closest to the window, is a young child with brown hair. Asuka blinks at this discovery, jarred by the sight, and it is enough to jolt her memory and clear her mind.

_That means..._

Asuka steps back, turning and opening the door to what her dream addled mind had believed was her room. Inside she sees a rather spartan space containing only a bed, a dresser, and a desk. A cello and violin near the window, and in the bed is a little girl with light blue hair.

_They're both here..._

Going to the living room, the redhead sits on the sofa and takes several deep, calming breaths. While the dream on the plane had seemed real, it had also been of a relatively 'normal' variety. This had been beyond weird, bordering on nightmare-level creepy.

Movement from the hall catches her eye, and turning to look she finds Rei standing with wide, startled eyes focused on her.

"Why are you up Sohryu-san?" her soft voice, just loud enough for Asuka to hear, is as polite as earlier in the day.

"Couldn't sleep." Asuka shrugged, "And it's Asuka, not Sohryu-san, remember?"

"Yes," blushing, Rei nods and shuffles her feet slightly, "May I... sit out here for a little while?"

"Come over here," Asuka said after only a slight pause, gesturing to the seat beside her, and Rei quickly moved to occupy the offered space, "did you have a bad dream or something?"

This was a new experience for her, being the guardian rather than the guarded, and she felt out of her depth now that she had been given the independence she'd demanded. It still rankled her that they thought she needed watching back when she was in germany. She was an Eva Pilot and college student at the time, not a grade-schooler. But being on her own, even if it had only been a couple days, and now responsible for two kids half her age had jarred the perfect illusion of adulthood she'd imagined.

To borrow a phrase she'd heard in college about becoming an adult: This shit is not what I expected.

"No, just-" Rei stopped herself and took a deep breath, her eyes focused on the floor, "You won't leave, will you?"

Asuka was taken aback by the question, and in her moment of pause Rei spoke again, her words running over themselves. "I'm not really worried, it's Shinji who's afraid of being alone, but he won't ask because he thinks it'll mean you'll leave."

"I- I'm not going anywhere." Asuka answered, bother by Rei's question. It had hit a burried corner of her, a corner she intended to keep buried. So instead she focused on the deflection from Rei's own worry to Shinji. "I'll tell Shinji in the morning."

Rei sighed, the tension leaving her suddenly small frame. Going on instinct, part of her suddenly jealous of her own actions and just as suddenly stomped and buried, Asuka gently reached over and pulled the girl close and tucked her into her side. After a moment of surprise, Rei relaxed into the german redhead.

It was... comforting, to be able to make someone else feel safe she realized. Tension she hadn't really noticed left her as she listened to Rei's soft breathing.

"Tell ya what, we'll go to get ice cream or something once I'm done for the day, ok?"

The little bluenette breathed a quiet okay, and Asuka smiled as Rei drifted off to sleep. She sat there a moment, letting the young girl fall to sleep, before gently picking her up and taking her to her bed.

0o0o0o0-:Ending Theme "Fire In The Desert" by Keiko Matsui:-0o0o0o0

[next time, on "I'm Needed: Redux"]  
No sooner did Tokyo-3 receive a Pilot than the first of the Angels, code-named Sachiel, arrive to threaten all life with its deadly march through the city in its quest for the First Angel buried deep in Terminal Dogma behind the massive doors called Heavens Gate. Join me as Asuka fights off this alien entity and heads to her first day of high school.

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A/N: I know I seriously slacked off with my stories under my D.A. penname, but with my completion of the Angel story arc I feel like I can finally work to finish I'm Needed. So, here I go once more, rewriting the series to suit my whims. :D  
I'm seriously tempted to write a drabble based in the canon series and write about Asuka and Touji dating. You know, small scenes that occur behind the main story and don't really change the series. -shrug- I'm not really a "slice-of-life" type author, so parts of IN:R will be a challenge. -grin-


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